Book Reviews

Invasions as a Tool for Basic Research

Species Invasions: Insights intoEcology, Evolution, and Biogeog-raphy. D. F. Sax, J. J. Stachow-icz, and S. D. Gaines, editors. 2005.Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mas-sachusetts. 480 pp. $54.95 (paper-back). ISBN 0-87893-811-7.

The topic of species invasionsseems to attract edited volumes, andthere have been so many good onesthat it can be hard to choose amongthem. This volume sets itself apartfrom others by approaching the topicof species invasions with an explic-itly different goal. As stated by theeditors in their well-written intro-duction, the objective of this collec-tion is not to interpret invasions ac-cording to current scientific knowl-edge, but vice versa: to highlight howspecies invasions can provide insightinto basic questions in ecology, evo-lution, and biogeography. Althoughsomewhat uneven, this book pro-vided a stimulating focus for our 10-week seminar course, and we recom-mend it to others interested in learn-ing about a broad range of topics onthe more theoretical side of invasionbiology.

The book is organized into threesections. The first, on ecology (chap-ters 1–5), includes broad summarychapters on what invasions can tellus about biotic interactions (Bruno etal.), ecosystem processes (D’Antonioand Hobbie), and infectious diseases(Lafferty et al.), among others. Thesecond section on evolution (chap-ters 5–11) includes two excellent re-views of genetic bottlenecks (Novakand Mack, Wares et al.) and thought-

provoking chapters on niche conser-vatism (Holt et al.), sexual selectionand speciation (Rice and Sax), andtaxon cycles (Ricklefs). The third sec-tion on biogeography (chapters 12–17) covers a wide diversity of top-ics, including range expansion (Kin-lan and Hastings), the concept of ho-mogenization (McKinney and Lock-wood), and scaling patterns (Labra etal.). Thoughtful summary chapters atthe start of each section and at theend of the book round out the vol-ume and give it a coherent feel.

The editors’ goal to use invasionsto inform understanding of funda-mental ideas in biology was worth-while; nevertheless, many of the au-thors had a hard time adhering tothis objective. In fact, some of thechapters decidedly pursue the oppo-site goal. For example, Vermeij (chap-ter 12) explicitly sets out to showhow knowledge of past biotic inter-changes through the fossil record sug-gests that invasive species should notbe treated as a conservation concern.Many chapters stray into weak or su-perficial comments on conservationimplications or on more applied is-sues, such as control methods. Nev-ertheless, despite the wavering fo-cus, all chapters offered provocativecomments about the relationship be-tween invasions and natural biologi-cal processes.

Another of the stated objectivesof the book is to invite participa-tion by leading evolutionary biolo-gists and ecologists who are not usu-ally associated with invasion biology.Although one might fear reinventionof the wheel, the potential benefit

of this approach is to bring in anoutsider’s perspective and generatenovel insights. Only a modest propor-tion of the chapters are in fact pri-marily authored by such outsiders,but these do provide some refresh-ingly new perspectives. These chap-ters work best when they stick withthe original aim of identifying waysthat invasive species inform basic bi-ological questions.

As with previous invasions vol-umes, some of the most interest-ing insights are provided by chap-ters that focus more narrowly onwell-documented case studies. Forexample, Huey et al. illustrate howthe increasingly well-understood evo-lutionary dynamics of introducedDrosophila subobscura and salmon(Oncorhynchus spp.) can contributeto evolutionary ecology. Their chap-ter provides an excellent referencefor anyone not familiar with theseclassic cases. Similarly, Novak andMack outline the details of several im-portant studies of genetic diversity inplant invasions.

The perspective of the volume isstrongly North American, with 80%of the authors from the United Statesand more than one-quarter from theUniversity of California. Neverthe-less, all chapters strive to outline gen-eral approaches or concepts, makingthe material relevant for an interna-tional audience.

As concluded by many of the au-thors in this volume, we have onlyjust begun to tap the potential of bi-ological invasions as a research toolfor studying fundamental, importantquestions in biogeography, ecology,

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and evolution. One of the strengthsof this book is the way it brings thesefundamental questions into sharprelief. Species Invasions: Insightsinto Ecology, Evolution, and Bio-geography has the potential to be awellspring of new ideas both for inva-sion biologists looking for new theo-retical frameworks and for evolution-ary biologists or ecologists lookingfor creative ways to utilize invasivespecies in their research.

Ingrid M. Parker,∗ Eduardo C. Garcıa,Katrina M. Dlugosch, Pete Holloran,Sarah M. Swope, Kris B. Hulvey, andRobert Clark

University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz,CA 95064, U.S.A.∗email parker@biology.ucsc.edu

A Swan among Geese

Island, Fact and Theory in Nature.Lazell, J. 2005. The University of Cal-ifornia Press, Berkeley, CA. 402 pp.(xx + 382). $49.95 (hardcover). ISBN0-520-24352-8.

Jeanine Deckers was an accom-plished musician before she wentpublic as the “Belgian singing nun.”Other nuns quickly bought guitars.They should not have (The LittleSisters of the Assumption, personalcommunication). Many biologists tooshould have left their “guitars” athome. To quote the composer Or-lando Gibbons, born in the late1500s, “alas there are more geesethan swans.” James Lazell has done alifetime of homework, and his cau-tious, yet informed, use of mathe-matics adds meaning to the sum ofthat work. He and his book Island,Fact and Theory in Nature shouldbe ranked among the swans. Surely,Lazell is not a singing nun.

Problems in ecology become moredifficult to solve as data in biol-ogy accumulate, and, in ecosystemstudy, they are doing so at an ever-increasing rate. I am not sure if

there is such a thing as a simpleecosystem, but some are surely morecomplicated than others. One wayto deal with this complexity is totreat ecosystems mathematically. Theidea of mathematical ecology hasbeen around for some time, but itreceived a boost when G. EvelynHutchinson defined ecological nicheas “an abstractly inhabited hypervol-ume” (Hutchinson 1957, 1965, per-sonal communication). The idea of Ndimensions brought about, more gen-erally, a new thinking about ecosys-tem modeling. The search for a gen-eral formula that can be used tomodel ecosystems overall has beenthe life’s work of a number of scien-tists, some more successful than oth-ers.

Lazell’s sense of humor is evi-dent throughout the book, but nomore than in the mathematics chap-ters, where he gently chides thoselooking for a general statement thatmight define mathematical ecology.In these chapters Lazell gently leadsthe reader into his version of howthe use of mathematics in the studyof ecology might bear fruit. Amidstapologiae for what he considers hislimited math skill, Lazell takes usfrom animal counts to trophic levels.His arithmetic prompts an apprecia-tion of all ecosystems and particularlythose related to island biogeography.Because of the way Lazell presentsthe math in these early chapters (itis tidy), this part of the book can beread at three levels. At the most ba-sic, one does not even need to lookat his formulae and proofs. His verbalexplanations at the end of each chap-ter interpret with clarity what thenumbers say. On a second level onecan read the book and be instructedby his arithmetic or, at a third level,take issue with it. I found the mathuseful, but no more so than Lazell’sgeneral caution, “life is more compli-cated than that.”

The major focus of Island is justthat, an island in the British VirginIslands called Guana, after a rockformation there that resembles aniguana’s head. (On some military

maps the island is labeled “Guano.”)Guana, however, is not his only studyisland. Lazell has studied many is-lands, and mainlands, all over theworld. He claims every continent ex-cept Antarctica, and he has numerouspublications to prove it. Lazell hasworked on Guana for 25 years, andduring that time has continued hiswork in other places. He has not onlygathered new material but has ac-quired a lot of experience interpret-ing it, and much of his accumulatedwisdom is passed on to the reader inIsland. Thus, this book is a maturework that combines natural history,ecology, and mathematics, and it con-tributes to all of these fields. It comesas close as any work I have seen to aposition statement about the natureof biological diversity. A book like thisis the signature of a field worker’s life.For now, it is Lazell’s general state-ment. Guana is a phenomenal studyarea. Its biodiversity is beyond any-thing predicted by any calculation. Infauna, flora, and fungi, there are morespecies than expected . . . a lot more.As for the one or two remaining king-doms, intensive study has not yet be-gun.

The book, however, does muchmore than try to explain why Guanais so diverse. It also describes that di-versity. A dozen specialists, all accom-plished scholars, contributed chap-ters to the book, and their writingsadd to the overall quality of Island.For instance, the chapter on the floraof Guana is by George Proctor ofKingston, Jamaica. There is no morequalified person in the world. Yet,these specialist statements are morethan just a list of species. They are ex-tensively annotated lists that may beconsidered stand-alone works. Just asthey add to this volume, they are en-riched by their presence in it.

Island is a comprehensive state-ment about the large number ofspecies on Guana. It is difficult to ar-rive at a figure that covers the four orfive kingdoms in biology, but five orsix times the predicted variety wouldnot be too high. Lazell’s primary ex-planation for this diversity is that

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8800 years ago, when the sea levelwas 120 m lower, Guana was part ofa much larger landmass. Lazell callsthe landmass “Great Guania.” It con-sisted of “the enlarged Puerto Rico,Caya des Muertos, and all of the Vir-gin Islands except St. Croix” (Heat-wole & MacKenzie 1967 as quotedfrom Island p. 101). According toLazell, at that time, the portion of landnow known as Guana was in equilib-rium and supported a large numberof coevolved species. When the sealevel rose and islands were formed,Guana’s environment, because it wasin equilibrium, continued to supportabout the same number of speciesbecause there was no competitionbetween them. This is a functionalexplanation if cautious. Lazell is cau-tious throughout the book, particu-larly where the math is concerned,and he is cautious here, perhapsrightfully.

Elsewhere in Island, Lazell men-tions there are pockets of similar habi-tats and microhabitats separated fromone another by other well-definedhabitats. This is verified by satelliteimagery. There are patches of sim-ilar habitats between, next to, andaround other habitats that are alsosimilar to one another. It is as if onehad 200 or 300 mosaic tiles in 20 or30 colors, each color representing ahabitat. If one were to spread the tilesunevenly in a shape that looked some-thing like Guana Island, one wouldhave a good representation of the ar-rangement of the patches. Hutchin-son said that most of life’s variety isfound at the interfaces between habi-tats rather than at the center of anyhabitat (personal communication). Ifind that Guana has many, many inter-faces.

Despite the fact that Island isentertaining and informative aboutthings biological, from species to the-ory, the book does have its short-comings, but not many. One of them,“The Cast,” a short piece about tax-onomy, comes too late in the bookand should include more discussion.Lazell, following convention, refersto the system of biological classifica-

tion as the “binomial system.” A bi-nomial is two numbers and is some-thing from algebra. Biological classi-fication uses two names, is binome-nal, so it is the binomenal system ofnomenclature. Does this mean thatall the biology books are wrong?Probably.

In “The Cast” the complete scien-tific name is given as genus, species,and generally the name of the per-son who described it. In most suchderivations, the date is also included,”Gibbonsia elegans Cooper 1864”for instance. As for the use of Latin orLatinate derivations (grammar, etc.),as Lazell states, is not always correct.For instance, Ekgmowechashala phi-latou is not included. In Island’s ta-ble of contents, the frog Eleuthero-dactylis Antillensi [sic] begins thespecies name in upper case. I hope itis a typographical error. These prob-lems and a few others are minor.

The number of contributed chap-ters brings up the question ofwhether this book should be con-sidered an edited volume. I thinknot. The 25 years of field researchon Guana has been orchestrated byLazell, and dozens of scientists haveworked there, many for multipleyears. Lazell, with the support Gloriaand Henry Jarecki, the island’s own-ers, has been running a serial scien-tific conclave for the last quarter cen-tury. His contribution to the workof any individual specialist has beenas much as that of the scientist him-or herself. The book, like the effortthat has gone into it, should reflectthis.

In Island Lazell mentions that hiswork is often autobiographical, andhe has been criticized for this. Hisapproach is certainly historiographic.As an intellectual history of islandbiogeography, and biology in gen-eral, it is wonderfully referenced andLazell simply includes himself and hispublications in this history. This is abook for various levels of readership,and Lazell’s light-hearted commentsabout himself, his work, and that ofothers are engaging and his writingstyle adds to the book’s worth.

Lazell sprinkles his text with asidesthat are set off from the rest of thetext with a gray background. Theseare sometimes personal statements.In one of these he takes to task aformer employer of his, a conserva-tion organization, for relocating ani-mals. I was on the board of directorsof that same organization for 5 years(not while Lazell was there), and itdoes a lot of good work. The mis-demeanors of the organization thatLazell mentions are, nonetheless, thetruth. As for Island, Fact and Theoryin Nature, it has few and simple mis-demeanors. This well-produced bookis filled with information that servesa wide range of readership, and it willserve biology and natural history foryears.

Michael Gibbons

97B Main Street, Wenham, MA 01984, U.S.A.,email mgibbons@aya.yale.edu, mgibbons@wellesley.edu

Literature Cited

Heatwole, H., and F. MacKenzie. 1967. Her-petogeography of Puerto Rico. IV. Pa-leogeography, faunal similarity, and en-demism. Evolution 21:429–439.

Hutchinson, G. E. 1957. Concluding remarks.Cold Spring Harbor Symposium. Quantita-tive Biology 22:415–427.

Hutchinson, G. E. 1965. The ecological theaterand the evolutionary play. Yale UniversityPress, New Haven, Connecticut.

The Selfless Geneticist

Conservation and the Genetics ofPopulations. Allendorf, F. W., and G.Luikart. 2006. Blackwell Publishing,Malden, Massachusetts. 661 (xix +642) pp. $69.95 (paperback). ISBN1-4051-2145-9.

The Florida panther was once con-sidered one of 15 subspecies of puma(Felis concolor) in North America. Bythe 1980s, the last remaining popu-lation of the panther was down tojust a few individuals that faced a

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degraded habitat and severely re-duced genetic diversity. Managers ofthe recovery effort had to decide be-tween preserving the Florida pantheras a unique taxon and restoring di-versity to the embattled population.A genetic analysis showed that sub-species status was unlikely for thelarge cat, and managers chose a ge-netic rescue, releasing eight Texascougars in southern Florida in the1990s. With the introduction of newgenes, the panther rebounded—thepopulation now numbers close to ahundred, and there are fewer indica-tions of inbreeding. The species maynow be poised to expand its range be-yond the narrow, swampy confines ofsouthern Florida.

In a time of increasing habitat frag-mentation and rapid climate change,it is likely that such translocations andthe management of gene flow will re-quire the expertise of evolutionary bi-ologists and conservation geneticists.Wildlife managers will need to under-stand genetic variation and the effectsof inbreeding and outbreeding, if notbe comfortable wielding pipettes orrunning agarose gels. In their wide-ranging book, Allendorf and Luikartset out to train undergraduates andbeginning graduate students in thebasics of conservation genetics.

As any student of the disciplineknows, it is a long journey. Much ofthe book is introduction, reviewingthe basics of genetic variation andevolutionary change. It does not re-ally get underway until Part III onpage 305, which includes an excel-lent chapter on conservation breed-ing and restoration. The chapter oninvasive species is informative—I hadnever heard of an eradication unit,the evil twin of the evolutionary sig-nificant unit or ESU. The last chapteron forensic and management implica-tions provides some nice case studiesof the use of DNA in wildlife identi-fication. The appendix on statisticalmethods, which I intended to skip orat best skim, is surprisingly lucid andwould be helpful to any advanced un-dergrad or graduate student early inhis or her career.

After the development of PCR,with the rapid rise in population ge-netic studies, geneticists were some-times maligned for not knowing theirspecies well enough to understandthem in the field. Yet DNA technol-ogy has done a lot for conservation.In the 19th century, scientific collec-tors competed with commercial andsport hunters for specimens, helpingdrive some species to the edge of ex-tinction. Since the molecular revolu-tion, lethal sampling is often unneces-sary, allowing the study of systemat-ics and conservation to become moreclosely aligned. Entire studies cannow be based on the flecks of skinsloughed from a whale, the bloodfrom a turtle’s tail, or the soon-to-beregenerated leg from a crab. It is nolonger necessary to kill a cetacean tounderstand its life history or capturea carnivore to follow its movementsor learn about its diet. DNA from fe-cal and hair samples make noninva-sive studies practical and profoundlyinformative. Which is not to say theyare easy. Allendorf and Luikart’s bookcan help wildlife managers, facedwith terms such as haplotype diver-sity and F statistics make sense of theinformation.

How does it compare with someof my favorite introductory texts,Hartl and Clark’s (1989) Principlesof Population Genetics (Sinauer As-sociates, Sunderland, Massachusetts);Graur and Li’s (2000) Fundamen-tals of Molecular Evolution (Sin-auer); Groom, Meffe, and Carroll’s(2006) Principles of ConservationBiology (Sinauer)? It stands up quitewell and is an excellent complementto Frankham, Ballous, and Briscoe’s(2002) Introduction to Conserva-tion Genetics (Cambridge UniversityPress, Cambridge, United Kingdom),which may be more accessible tothe nonspecialist. Nevertheless, thevolume would have benefited fromproper proofreading. (As much as Ilike the idea of a study of muskrats inBackwater National Wildlife Refuge,it is really Blackwater.) Conservationand the Genetics of Populations is amagnanimous book, captured in the

Zen vow that opens the preface: “Themany beings are numberless; I vow tosave them all.” Molecular assays alonewill not do that, but in synthesis withecology, evolution, and systematics,they provide some of the best toolswe have.

Joe Roman

Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, Uni-versity of Vermont, 617 Main Street, Burling-ton, VT 05445, U.S.A., email joe.roman@uvm.edu

Saving the Planet in the PacificNorthwest

Restoring the Pacific Northwest:the Art and Science of Ecologi-cal Restoration in Cascadia. Apos-tol, D., and M. Sinclair, editors. 2006.Island Press, Washington, D.C. 502(xxvii + 475) pp. $99.95 (hard-cover). ISBN 1-55963-077-9. $49.95(paperback). ISBN 1-55963-078-7.

In the introduction to Restoringthe Pacific Northwest, Dean Apostolwrites,

The initial idea [for this book]was to gather leading practi-tioners to document the stateof the art of ecological restora-tion in the region and thushelp advance its practice. Thisreflects the stage of develop-ment of restoration, which isstill quite a young field andis advancing primarily throughthe efforts of field practition-ers rather than academic re-searchers. Practitioners are verybusy saving the planet and donot have much time for researchand writing, so much of the besttechnical knowledge is lockedup in the heads and field notesof [restoration practitioners].

The claim that restoration knowl-edge is advancing primarily throughpractitioners rather than academicscientists is shaky at best. Knowledgeis advanced in the scientific tradi-tion through the integration of theoryand practice, hypothesis and exper-iment. Theory guides practice andpractice informs theory. In spite of

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Apostol’s debatable claim, this bookis nevertheless an attempt to link the-ory and practice in applied restora-tion science, and it includes contri-butions from academic and nonaca-demic restorationists. Each chapterfocuses on a particular type of ecosys-tem and begins with a brief reviewof relevant ecological theory (con-ceptual models of how the ecosys-tems work developed mostly by aca-demics) and then proceeds to exam-ples and discussion of the practiceof restoration (undertaken mostly bynonacademic practitioners) in thatecosystem. Each chapter also de-scribes case studies of habitat restora-tion, which is a great idea im-plemented with various degrees ofsuccess. Some case studies are in-teresting stories illustrating restora-tion complexity, challenges, and suc-cesses. These often involve descrip-tion of the interactions between sci-ence, culture, politics, and humanemotion (the real world of restora-tion). Other case studies merely listrestoration actions without deeperexploration of the problems thatrestorationists confronted and re-solved. Some case studies are littlemore than glib public relations an-nouncements, missing critical analy-sis or self-examination.

The scope of the book is tremen-dously broad, covering estuaries andalpine meadows and almost everyecosystem in between. One glaringomission is floodplain restoration,which is only glancingly mentionedin the chapter on riparian wood-lands, a chapter that inexplicablyomits treatment of the vast bulk ofthe Pacific Northwest east of the Cas-cade mountain range. The breadthof the book’s scope necessarily en-tails sacrificing depth and detail in thetreatment of each ecosystem. Wholebooks have been written about eachchapter topic, some with specific fo-cus on the Pacific Northwest. Con-sequently, this book provides goodintroductions to habitat restorationin various Pacific Northwest ecosys-tems and is appropriate to a survey-scale advanced undergraduate course

or as a reference for busy environ-mental professionals, regulators, landmanagers, and policy makers whowant to increase or broaden their ex-posure to restoration issues but donot have time to investigate the sub-ject deeply. Those wanting a morethorough discussion of a particularecosystem should consult books witha narrower focus or the primary sci-entific literature.

One of the most interesting chap-ters of the book deals with theapplication of traditional ecologicalknowledge (TEK) to habitat restora-tion. The chapter is an eloquent in-troduction to a promising area of re-search, and it clearly illustrates thevalue of including cultural values inhabitat restoration. Nevertheless, thechapter is missing a discussion ofhow TEK might be translated intoscientific information. This culturaltranslation is essential for TEK to beadopted by scientists, but how reli-able is TEK for science-based restora-tion? Has there been degradationof information, given at least sev-eral generations of cultural oppres-sion, changed lifestyles, and changedcultures? Are there cultural refugiawhere the quality of TEK is higher?How do we assay TEK quality exceptthrough tests conducted with the sci-entific method?

An important restoration issue thatreceives very short shrift is moni-toring. Most chapters treat monitor-ing cursorily, if at all. If this brieftreatment reflects “the state of theart of ecological restoration in theregion,” practitioners are doing lit-tle to develop the art into a predic-tive science. A fuller treatment ofgeneral monitoring principles wouldhave discussed and provided exam-ples of a variety of important is-sues, such as monitoring to audita project (implementation monitor-ing); monitoring to evaluate projectsuccess in achieving preestablishedproject goals and criteria for success(effectiveness monitoring); monitor-ing to quantitatively evaluate habitatrestoration–population response re-lationships (validation monitoring);

monitoring to test predictive mod-els; monitoring cumulative effectsand indirect effects; landscape-scaleversus site-scale monitoring; moni-toring as part of problem identifi-cation, problem solving, and solu-tion testing; monitoring as hypothe-sis testing and its relationship to thescientific method in general; moni-toring as part of adaptive manage-ment; statistical designs for moni-toring; and prioritizing monitoringparameters.

For restoration science to grow andsucceed, it needs both practitionersand researchers, and it needs themto communicate with each other andinform each other’s endeavors so thatresearch and restoration can both bemore effective. This book contributestoward that exchange.

W. Gregory Hood

Senior Restoration Ecologist, Skagit River Sys-tem Cooperative, LaConner, WA 98257, U.S.A.,email ghood@skagitcoop.org

Conservation ResentmentDissected

Conservation Is Our GovernmentNow: the Politics of Ecology inPapua New Guinea. West, P. 2006.Duke University Press, Durham, NC.320 pp. $79.95 (hardcover). ISBN0-822-33712-6. $22.95 (paperback).ISBN 0-8223-3749-5.

Conservation projects can be con-sidered attempts to change humanbehavior. Interestingly, those whostudy human behavior, such as cul-tural anthropologists, have been rele-gated to a marginal role in conserva-tion efforts to date. In ConservationIs Our Government Now, PaigeWest, an anthropologist at ColumbiaUniversity’s Barnard College, de-tails the implementation andoperation of Papua New Guinea’sCrater Mountain Wildlife Manage-ment Area. The Crater MountainProject is one wherein conservation

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nongovernmental organizations(NGOs), in conjunction with thelocal Gimi people, worked to protectbiodiversity, such as the famed birdsof paradise. From the outset CraterMountain Project was conceivedas an experiment in conservationthat aimed to achieve the protectionof globally significant biodiversitythrough changes in local behavior,coupled with alternate incomethrough new connections with theglobal marketplace. West’s bookdocuments the considerable socialdisruption that followed, including apronounced increase in the demandsmade on women’s labor (for theproduction of tourist commodities).These demands were subsequentlyblamed for a death in childbirth;they helped fuel the resentmentof conservation that pervades thecommunity; not all disruptions weresocial ones. One conservationist’soffer of money in exchange forthe protection of birds of paradisewas followed quickly by the lossof the entire lek through hunting.The association of Harpy Eagles andconservation was the impetus forone embittered local chopping downthe tree that held the eagle’s nest.

Most useful is West’s documenta-tion of the convergence of conser-vationists’ vague promises of eco-nomic development with local ex-pectations, where the latter involvedrelationships of reciprocity and re-cursive obligation rather than partic-ular goods being traded. Conserva-tionists saw their offerings as a quidpro quo relationship (i.e., cash forwork or jobs for those with “eagle”land), where the ultimate arbiter offair exchange was the market valueof the thing given. In contrast, thevillagers saw the relationship as along-term social relationship of ex-change, where ongoing sustained andmutual reciprocation was assumed.When this assumption was not met,justifiable incomprehension resulted.West herself clearly lives by her un-derstanding of desired reciprocation,which is no small burden: given kind-ness and countless hours of conver-

sation work, which contributed in-strumentally to West’s thesis, book,and career. West knows it is her so-cial obligation to help the villagers—even from a distance, in New York—with “school fees, money, help find-ing a doctor, a new wristwatch, helpopening a bank account” (p. 235).That West’s time is valued much morehighly in the global marketplacethan the villagers’ time is irrelevantto the social relationships she hasentered.

In chapters 3 and 4, what becomesclear is that meaning systems, likeecosystems, have their own logic thatis often completely invisible to NGOstaff and scientists, and yet is as-sumed by locals to be self-evident.Thus, when a conservation projectis interjected into such a system,its success and its reception dependcritically on the degree to whichpreexisting social arrangements andassumptions are understood. And,when things go wrong, it is almostnever a matter of good versus badactors (although there can be someof this), but rather a problem of mu-tual good intentions whose foundingassumptions no party really under-stands.

In chapter 6 (“Conservation asDevelopment”), West explains howconservationists restricted the food-provisioning activities of the men byattempting to create a substitute mar-ket for local rainforest goods whileincreasing hunting prohibitions. Aswomen’s labor to produce net bagsfor new markets became more valu-able, bride prices rose and along withthem, pressures on women to workto “live up to” their “price.” West isquick to point out that this was notall the fault of conservation project.Any development initiative involv-ing women producing commoditiesfor a global market could have thesame impact, but conservation NGOswere the actors in question here andthus the focus of women’s resent-ment.

Also apparent in this case and wellcaptured by the eponymous “conser-vation is our government now” is

that in nascent nation states or thosewith relatively informal civic infras-tructures, NGOs or aid administratorsoften become the de facto govern-ment. This is an enormous respon-sibility that NGOs may or may notseek, but which should be addresseddirectly and not by happenstance.A good example of this appears inchapter 6, where West explains howconservationists’ governing simplifi-cation of land tenure contributed toa family conflict and the choppingdown of the harpy eagle tree. To sim-plify conservation action, conserva-tionists assigned tenure authority tothe first person who stated a claimover the land, ignoring the compet-ing claims and the fact that suchcompeting claims are commonplace.Resenting the benefits and prestigeflowing to this one privileged actor,the man with the competing claim tothe land chopped down the tree. “If Isaw the bird, I would shoot it myself,”said another, sister to the first manand mother to the second (p. 198).In the eyes of the conservationists,the second man was the “bad actor,”although many members of the com-munity supported his counter-claimto tenure. Meanwhile, conservation-ists naıvely maintained their simpli-fication of the sociohistorical natureof systems of land tenure, wishing to“just find out who owns that land” (p.196).

Land-based people are just that(land based). First, conservationistsshould expect long-standing regimesof use and tenure rights that are morecomplicated than any rules or ar-rangements one might first be told.Second, land is the economy. So, al-though new administrative or otherjobs not based on the land are oftendesirable, what is needed more thananything is recognition that conser-vation projects invariably involve (in-tentionally and not) the developmentof a transitional economy of sorts andultimately necessitate a new sustain-able economy. One is left with a gen-eral concern about conservation ac-tion that involves introducing globalmarkets and creating commodities

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1382 Book Reviews

out of natural or human-made prod-ucts that previously had only localexchange value, which is often thecase in isolated places where muchconservation action is directed. Yes,many of the complexities that arisewhen the “global” invades the “lo-cal” will occur regardless of whetherinterventions are conservation-and-development or just development,but this does not alleviate the chal-lenge of doing conservation in suchplaces. It will always be hard. When-ever development is involved, changemust be expected, and it must be ex-pected to alter the rules that struc-ture economies. For example, crafts,such as net bags—whose exchangevalue is based partly or largely on con-sumers’ perceptions of quaintnessand genuine traditions—will likely re-sult in one of the following: (1) failto provide income sufficient to meetthe needs and desires of locals or (2)if mass produced, provide sufficientincome for desired changes such ashealth care or education but then losemarket share because of consumer

perceptions of what constitutes tra-dition. (Tradition is a function ofthose to whom it belongs and not ofconsumers, even though marketinggoods rests on consumers’ naive as-sumptions about tradition.) Such aneconomy is either an effective tran-sitional economy or a poor one, butit is not a sustainable new economy,and it cannot be expected to main-tain prescribed “cultural values andabilities,” as advertised by marketers(p. 208).

Readers with a biology backgroundwill quibble with West’s definition ofprimary forest (as highly diverse, notold growth) and the focus on local (al-pha) diversity over global (gamma)diversity in her explanation of thehuman enhancement of biodiversity.And some of the claims that Westmakes in prominent locations are notwell supported. For example, at theend of chapter 6, West claims thatthe commodification of nature under-mined the inherent value that peo-ple saw in Harpy Eagles (which iscrucial for conservation success). But

there are multiple notions of inher-ent value, and the cultural signifi-cance of the eagles that West dis-cusses (mostly as characters in di-dactic myths) does not necessarilydemonstrate that locals value the con-tinued viability of eagles. Regardless,these minor points do not detractfrom the crucial messages richly il-lustrated here. Some anthropologistsseem to see little value in the con-servation mission, which understand-ably unsettles conservationists, butWest is not of this camp and clearlyhas not taken the adversarial stancesome believe she has (p. 23). Insteadshe offers sufficient context and de-tail to make some initial lessons tan-gible, which just might be the firststep in a more productive relation-ship between anthropology and con-servation.

Kai M. A. Chan and Terre Satterfield

Institute for Resources, Environment & Sus-tainability, AERL, 2202 Main Mall, Universityof British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4,Canada, email kaichan@ires.ubc.ca

Recently Received Books(April 2007— June 2007)

Agricultural and Environmental Sus-tainability. Considerations for the Future.Kang, M. S., editor. 2007. The Haworth Press,NY. 224 pp. $65.00 (paperback). ISBN 1-56022-171-2.

Baboon Metaphysics. The Evolution ofa Social Mind. Cheney, C., and R. Sey-farth. 2007. The University of Chicago Press,Chicago, IL. 348 pp. $27.50 (hardcover). ISBN0-226-10243-2.

The Chicago Guide to Landing a Jobin Academic Biology. Chandler, C. R., L. M.Wolfe, and E. L. D. Promislow. 2007. The Uni-versity of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 160 (x +

150) pp. $14.00 (paperback). ISBN 13-978-0-226-10130-0.

Design for Ecological Democracy. Hes-ter, R. T. 2006. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.512 pp. $39.95 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-262-08351-5.

Farming and the Fate of Wild Na-ture. Essays in Conservation-Based Agri-culture. Imhoff, D., and J. A. Baumgartner,editors. 2007. University of California Press,Berkeley, CA. 264 pp. $16.95 (paperback).ISBN 978-0-9709500-3-1.

The Honest Broker. Making Sense ofScience in Policy and Politics. Pielke, R.A., Jr. 2007. Cambridge University Press, NewYork, NY. 198 (x + 188) pp. $29.99 (paper-back). ISBN 0-521-69481-7.

Ladybugs of Alberta. Finding the Spotsand Connecting the Dots. Acorn, J. 2007.The University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, Al-

berta. 169 pp. $29.95 (paperback). ISBN 978-0-88864-381-0.

The Last Human. A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans. Sawyer,G. J., and V. Deak, creators. Sarmiento, E., G.J. Sawyer, and R. Milner, text. 2007. Yale Uni-versity Press, Hartfort, CT. 256 pp., 71 colorillustrations. $45.00 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-300-10047-1.

Marshes: the Disappearing Edens.Burt, W. 2007. Yale University Press, NewHaven, CT. 192 pp., 92 color illustrations.$35.00 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-300-12229-9.

The Ribbon of Green. Change in Ripar-ian Vegetation in the Southwestern UnitedStates. Webb, R. H., S. A. Leake, and R. M.Turner. 2007. The University of Arizona Press,Tucson, AZ. 480 pp. $75.00 (hardcover). ISBN0-8165-2588-9.

Conservation BiologyVolume 21, No. 5, 2007